Five Innovation Talent Reflections

I have been reading some interesting articles recently on talents; how to spot them and how to develop them in a fast-changing world. Here you get five reflections on this in the context of innovation:

1. Future versus Past

What are the traditional competencies that innovators were hired for in your organization? Must hires today are based on competencies, but the future of hiring will move towards potential. If you don’t really know the competencies – in the context of innovation – that your company has hired for so far then it will become more difficult to make the shift towards hiring for potential.

2. Adaptability is Key

But in what direction? Organizations, as well as the talent, must know what they must adapt towards. How can you get, and maintain, an overview and/or direction for the internal and external factors and trends that impact your innovation efforts and capabilities?

3. Future Innovation Leaders Create Communities

More and more innovation work will happen in communities; internally as well as externally and in many hybrid forms. Making communities work will be a key skill to look for in future talent.

4. Build the Right Conditions and Frameworks

There are no blue prints or off-the-shelf solutions on how to make innovation work in big companies. It’s becoming more and more about creating the right conditions and frameworks for this to happen. You need to let talent roam more freely.

5. Future Innovators are Intelligent in Many Ways

It’s no longer enough just to be strong on technology or products; you also need to understand the value that other people and functions bring to the innovation process. Here it might be relevant to look at the different types of intelligence that exist and look into how this insight could work for the hiring and development of innovation talent.

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  Stefan Lindegaard is an author, speaker and strategic advisor who focus on the topics of open innovation, social media and intrapreneurship.